- They destroyed me. They put me on trial. They played that tape, over and over again. They put my face in the papers and on TV... They called me obsessed. They called me your lover. They called me a murderer. Then they put me away. For life. For life, Bruce. And after all of that, you think that I would tell your secret? I NEVER WANTED YOUR SECRET!
Detective Comics #775 is an issue of the series Detective Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of December, 2002. It was published on October 2, 2002.
Synopsis for "Atonement, Part Three"
Jessica Midnight is commanding an operation to capture a drug dealer in Gotham City, but the whole operation is thwarted by Batman, who gets rid of all the field members of Checkmate and then he goes to Midnight's base and gives her a little message.
Midnight, with a bruised face, reports the events to her superior, who is angered by Batman's constant disruption of their operations and commands Midnight to make Batman stop his crusade against them any way she can.
Meanwhile, Bruce is still obsessed with the disappearance of Sasha Bordeaux and tells Oracle to keep an eye on Checkmate's operations for any unusual activity. Alfred suggests that after six months of Sasha's disappearance, Bruce's motives to find her have more to do about himself than his worries over her not keeping the secret of Batman.
Some time later, Sasha is training in the virtual reality compound and after finishing her training with an almost perfect score, Midnight comes to her and takes her for a walk. Jessica tells Sasha that she is more than ready for field work, but Sasha replies that she has to be perfect for that. Midnight tells Sasha about her bruises and the whole situation that has been going with Batman. Jessica admits that Checkmate were fools to believe that Sasha had no connections to Batman since every vigilante in Gotham works for him, and now they're paying the price. Sasha suggests to start a war against Batman, even when she knows that they would fail. Midnight also knows the consequences of that move and instead she tells Sasha that she has to face Batman to end it once and for all.
The next night, Batman is fighting some gang in a rooftop when Oracle calls to tell him about Checkmate's recent activity and without a dull moment, Batman goes to the address Oracle gives him. Upon arriving, Batman realizes that he's been lured into a trap and angered by the daring move he threatens Midnigght, who is lurking in the shadows. Jessica comes out of her hiding place and she tells Batman that the message was "clear" the last time and that she only lured him there to give him a message from the person he has been looking for so long.
The letter was addressed to Batman as Bruce, telling him to go to Robinson Park at 13:30 the next day. Alfred takes Bruce to the park and at the appointed hour, Bruce goes to the park entrance, where he is greeted by Sasha. Bruce notices how different she is. Her long blonde hair is now short and auburn; and her face is completely different. She explains that a reconstructive surgery was enough to change her identity.
Sasha starts telling Bruce that he needn't to worry about his secret, because after all that has happened to her and the suffering she's been through she haven't told it to anybody. Sasha releases her repressed anger on Bruce and punches him a couple of times, while she tells him about her faithfulness to him. Sasha and Bruce end up closer to each other after that move and after a brief moment they embrace each other and kiss for a long time. Sasha pushes Bruce back because she can't allow her feeling to control her as before and she starts telling Bruce, how dumb she was for believing that she entered his life on her own, when in fact, it was all planned by him. Bruce admits that he wanted her in his life, but as time passed, he started having feelings for her as she had for him and instead of accepting it, he pushed her away by giving her a costume, making her work for him and placing a distance between them. Bruce tells Sasha that he has learned from his past mistakes and he tells her that he won't do them again if she comes back to him.
Sasha admits that she loved Bruce and after asking him if he ever felt the same, he replied that he did. Sasha feels terrible for the victim in this whole story, Vesper and she starts leaving the park. Bruce grabs her arms from behind and pleads her to stay. Sasha turns around with a smile, approaches her face towards his and softly she tells him "Don't try to find me." Sasha keeps walking away from Bruce as the snow starts falling and after a while, Bruce finds himself alone.
Appearing in "Atonement, Part Three"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Locations:
- Gotham City
- Batcave
- Robinson Park
- The Holland Building
Items:
Synopsis for "The Hunt, Part Three"
Bishop has been working as guard in Arkham Asylum for quite a while and he has seen some of the weirdest things of his life. However, it doesn't take long for the Tracker to figure out where is Bishop hiding and he goes to Arkham to find his prey.
Tracker gets inside and finds Mr. Zsasz but decides to focus only on Bishop. With his new identity of Whitman, he walks the halls of Arkham with another guard when Tracker drops down on them and he attacks them. Bishop manages to run for a while, but Tracker locks them inside the violent ward. Bishop tries to protect himself with water, but Tracker electrifies it and knock Bishop down. Moments later, Bishop recovers and finds himself held by Tracker upside-down above Killer Croc's pit. Tracker wants to know about the stolen diamond and Bishop tells him everything he knows.
Hours later, detectives Montoya and Allen walk to their car and they find Bishop tied inside the car and the diamonds in a suitcase. They arrest Bishop and give the news about the recovery of the diamonds. Tracker goes back to his base, where he takes off his suit and regrets not having captured the man sooner.
Word on the street about the hunter of criminals is spreading and Matches Malone finds it very interesting. Moments later, Batman dives into the night looking for the new threat.
Appearing in "The Hunt, Part Three"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Celia Kazantkakis (First appearance)
- Bugg
Antagonists:
- Frankie Bishop
- Killer Croc
- Mister Zsasz
- Poison Ivy
Other Characters:
- Batman
- Crispus Allen
- Renee Montoya
- Tif (Single appearance)
- Calendar Man (Cameo)
- Clayface (Cameo)
- Ventriloquist and Scarface (Cameo)
Locations:
Items:
Notes
- "Atonement, Part Three" is reprinted in Batman: Bruce Wayne - Fugitive Vol 3 and Bruce Wayne: Fugitive.
- This is the third and last part of the storyline titled Atonement. The previous chapter is Detective Comics #774.
- This story is part of the Aftermath to the Bruce Wayne: Fugitive storyline. It completed the story of Sasha Bordeaux and her future.
- Information presented in Batman Family 1 indicates that the events of this story arc occur somewhere between May, 2002 and July 16, 2002 in continuity time.
- This is the first Detective Comics issue to feature the DC in Demand info page, which replaced the letter columns Detective Comments after 19 years of publication of fan letters. Detective Comments first appeared in Detective Comics #527.
- Greg Rucka's first run as writer on Detective Comics ends with this issue.
See Also